Democracy Dies in Darkness

Worried about the 23andMe hack? Here’s what you can do.

A bad actor offered to sell information on 23andMe’s users, calling out Jewish people specifically

Updated October 13, 2023 at 3:18 p.m. EDT|Published October 12, 2023 at 7:00 a.m. EDT
An illustration of DNA and an eye.
(Illustration by The Washington Post;)
4 min

Fourteen million people have shared their genetic information with 23andMe in hopes of learning more about their heritage. After a hack that appeared to target people with Jewish ancestry, some might be wondering how to cut ties with the company.

The apparent hacker posted in an online forum last week offering to sell the names, locations and ethnicities of what could be millions of 23andMe users, calling out Jewish people specifically. 23andMe confirmed to The Washington Post that the leak contained real data and said the hack appeared to be the result of credential stuffing, in which an attacker uses leaked username-password combinations from other sites to break into 23andMe accounts. (Imagine you used the same password for 10 websites, then one of those sites had a security breach.)